


Happily Ever After

by SemperAeternumQue



Series: Pyren Brothers AU [4]
Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: (and probably has depression), Angst, Bronte is depressing, Canon Compliant, DON'T LET THE TITLE FOOL YOU THEY DO NOT LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER, Gen, No beta we die like Kenric, SEMP STOP WRITING ANGST FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE CHALLENGE, Sad Ending, The Pyren Brothers AU, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, bronte stop being depressing for once in your fucking life challenge, fintan stop smiling for once in your fucking life challenge, i let my friends read this and they screamed about angst so must be good, kenric is mentioned very briefly near the end, semp's continual mission to fill the kotlc AO3 with pyren bros content, takes place over several millennia but ends directly after Everblaze, the answer is no I will not stop writing angst, this will hurt you, you can't prove this AU isn't canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 06:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23346802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SemperAeternumQue/pseuds/SemperAeternumQue
Summary: Over the many millennia of their lives, Fintan never loses the hope that Bronte never had to begin with.
Relationships: Councillor Bronte & Fintan Pyren
Series: Pyren Brothers AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1648879
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	Happily Ever After

**Author's Note:**

> Hello folks, it's me, Semp, stuck in quarantine and continuing my mission of filling the kotlc fandom with Bronte content. I love the Pyren brothers and I'm going to make that everyone else's problem. 
> 
> For anyone who has not already seen the Pyren Brothers AU (although I'm fairly certain most of the tumblr fandom has at least a little idea of what it is by now), basically Bronte and Fintan are brothers and everything hurts a lot. Also Bronte is trans, although that's not relevant to this fic. Just thought I'd mention it. 
> 
> Anyways as for warnings for this fic: implied/mentioned character death, some depressing thoughts, Bronte is very fucked up. Actually, both of them are. It's implied that their parents aren't in their life (which is because said parents were abusive), but no actual mentions of abuse.

Bronte had always known, from a young age, his story would not end happily.

When he was a child, he read books that ended with an 'and they all lived happily ever after' to his brother.

Fintan would smile and say "We're gonna live happily ever after!"

Bronte would smile back and say "Yes, we're going to live happily ever after", but he could never quite believe that.

By the time they were teenagers, even Fintan's bright optimism had faded, but he still believed in a happy ending for them.

"We'll change the world someday, when we're all grown up, just you wait," he would say.

Bronte thought "We won't even live to see twenty" but he kept that to himself. 

They lived to see twenty, and Fintan kept hoping, even as they struggled through navigating adulthood without parents to guide them.

"Someday, it'll all be over, and we'll be free of our past," he would tell Bronte.

"Someday," Bronte would agree, even if he couldn't see anything in their future but pain. 

Their future held pain, yes, but for both of them, also a title.

Councillors. 

"We're changing the world," Fintan told his brother. "We're going to make it better."

Bronte wondered if that would finally make them happy. He didn't think so, but he smiled and nodded at Fintan's words anyways.

Fintan didn't cease to hope, even after his friends died sparking Everblaze.

It was the closest Bronte had seen him to despair, but even then he said "we'll change the world." Even when he left the Council, he would say "Well, we'll just have to change it all from the outside. We'll heal again."

Bronte just nodded and let him cling to the hope he so desperately needed.

Even as they grew further apart, Fintan kept smiling.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," he would joke. "We're still brothers- and we're still going to be okay."

Bronte would laugh at the joke with a mirth he didn't feel. "Still brothers." _But we'll never be okay._

Fintan had never stopped believing in a happily ever after.

Bronte had never believed in one in the first place. 

Bronte had promised they would live happily ever after.

Fintan had truly believed it.

Bronte had never wished more that he had been wrong and Fintan right as he held Oralie tightly and stared towards the ruin of the tower where his brother and friend had died.


End file.
